I finally got to go skiing this week! Woot! Downhill is just more fun than cross-country and I fall far less. I went to Mont Ste. Marie on Monday. They had heaps of COVID protocols, so I had to buy my ticket in advance, I had to change my boots in my car and leave my stuff there as the lodges are closed except for take-out and bathrooms, and I had to space myself away from those on the lift lines. Which was not a problem since there were no lines. The conditions were great except, surprisingly, for the expert hill's chairlift, which got progressively shakier as the day went along. The hill is not big, but it had enough steeps to make things fun and fast. It was good for my ego as they had a lot of grade inflation--blue runs that were coded as black or double black diamonds. For me, to be a black diamond it either has to be super steep, narrow, or bumpy. None of these runs were narrow or bumpy and not extremely steep. My kind of stuff.
Otherwise, the highlight of the week was watching sharp colleagues speak truth to power at the Defence Committee hearings on the Canadian Armed Forces and their abuse of power problem. I blogged about it here. Stef vH and I had talked about these issues in our podcast both this week and in the previous episode, and I have been following her work in the CDSN Personnel Theme. So, as awful as it is that the CAF hasn't made that much progress, it was good to see the efforts of academics, including CDSN leaders (Stef and Alan Okros), shed so much light and insight on this stuff. The timing could not have been much better for my Civ-Mil class as it just so happened that this week's focus Gender and civil-military relations. So, quite the learning moment for us.
Woot! The average Saideman is now vaccinated, I think. My mother got her first shot last week, my brother got his first shot this week, one of my sister's got both shots as she volunteered to help max vax her city. So, that just leaves me and my older sister. It is an easy bet that I will be the last both because I am the youngest and the most Ontarian. That's ok. My job allows me to continue to quarantine with the only risky behavior involving shopping. It is good to hear about my friends' parents and other folks getting the shots, and the vax news, other than the inequities, is very good. That is a big exception, and Biden seems focused on improving that.
One of the hidden benefits of skiing is that the slow chair lifts (especially the progressively shakier one) gave me time to think. I was able to develop some CDSN strategies and figure out how to fix the article that we just had rejected. You know what they say:
Facebook is reminded me that I came back from Japan around this time last year--my last international trip. I drank sake last night that an old farmer gave me when I visited the kids he was hosting during their home stay. Kampai!
Next up: reminders of last year's CDSN civ-mil workshop in Calgary and the ski trip that was just so convenient.
Be well and be patient.
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